Ontario's Glenn Howard wins fourth Brier title

The Ontario skip, who has been beaten in his last three appearances in the final of the Tim Hortons Brier, snapped that string with a 7-6 victory over Alberta’s Kevin Koe on Sunday at Credit Union Centre.

“Son of a gun, it feels good,” a jubilant Howard said after clinching the win with a wide-open hit. “I told you we would bring our ‘A’ game and that’s what happened. Still, you have to make your last shot because Koe kept hanging on. It’s a little bit of a monkey off our backs. I’m so proud of our guys.”

Howard claimed his fourth Canadian men’s curling championship and second as a skip. He won Briers in 1987 and ’93 as a third with his brother, Russ, and in 2007 as the shot-caller.

“I can’t believe that I won the Brier four times,” said Howard, who was appearing in his sixth Brier final in the last seven years. He finished runner-up to Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton last year and also lost to Koe in 2010 and Alberta’s Kevin Martin in ’08.

“I’m pretty proud to be on some of the best teams that have ever walked the earth. I’ve surrounded myself with some of the best curlers and it feels great to have won another.”

Howard’s team was at its best in the final. Howard shot 95 per cent, third Wayne Middaugh shot 98, second Brent Laing was 91 and lead Craig Savill was 86. Overall, the Howard team shot 92 per cent to Alberta’s 80.

Howard struck early with a hit for two in the first end. Koe responded with one in the third before Howard drew for two in the fourth to grab a 4-1 lead.

In the fifth, Howard forced Koe into drawing for one and led 4-2 at the break.

Howard took control in the sixth after Koe’s attempt at a double takeout jammed, leaving one Ontario counter in the house. Howard drew in for the second point and a 6-2 advantage.

The Ontario skip then showed his touch in the eighth end when he played a soft tap for one to take a 7-3 lead.

“They played great and we were just a little off early,” said Koe, who was curling with Pat Simmons, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen. “We didn’t play too well and you can’t make mistakes like that against those guys.”

Howard will now represent Canada at the world championship, March 31-April 8 in Basel, Switzerland. He is three-for-three at the world level and plans on adding to that list in 2012.

“We’re going to give it a good shot,” Howard said. “I like the way we’re going. We’re 34-and-1 in our last 35 games. We’re on a bit of a run and I hope we bring that to Basel.”

Howard won this year’s title with a different lineup after long-time third Richard Hart retired after the 2011 season to devote time to his occupation and family. Howard added Middaugh, who shared in the 1993 Canadian title as a second. Middaugh also won the 1998 Canadian men’s championship as a skip.

“(Howard) led the team and we were there for him,” said Middaugh, who was named the Hec Gervais playoff MVP. “It’s great to back playing with Glenn again, but they were a good team before I came along.”

Ontario lost just once en route to this year’s title — a 10-6 defeat to Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories-Yukon in the round robin. Howard won 10 straight after that, including a 9-3 victory over Manitoba’s Rob Fowler in Friday’s 1 vs. 2 Page Playoff game.

Koe was attempting to match his 2010 championship run when he beat Howard in the final en route to becoming the first skip to win the Brier while playing in the Page 3 vs. 4 game. Koe beat Jamie, his younger brother, 10-6 in Saturday’s 3 vs. 4 game and Fowler 8-6 in the semifinal later that night.

Fowler won the bronze medal after beating Jamie Koe 8-7 in an extra end in the third-place game Sunday morning.

PEBBLES: The finalists won $40,000 each, while Fowler earned $30,000 for finishing third and Jamie Koe $20,000 for placing fourth … The Howard team receives $144,000 in funding from Sport Canada over a two-year period and $40,000 from Own the Podium for training and competition expense … Sunday’s draw attracted 9,974 spectators. The total attendance was 177,226, eighth on the list of all-time attendance for a Brier.

Regina Leader Post

mmccormick@leaderpost.com

Twitter.com/murraylp

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